Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Please take your seats. Do it quickly and quietly. Welcome to the first day of your new scholastic lives. This is no longer a bird course. The bird has flown. If you want to pass this course, you gonna have to earn it, 'cause I have no problems, not one, failing each and every one of you.
Yo. I never thought this was no bird course.
I'm glad for you. Very, very glad. Because this is a new day. Things are going to be a little different around here.
Frankie Oh, yeah?
Frankie Like how?
Like when I talk, Fran-KAY, you don't! [Some girls pass notes around and when it got to Maria, she giggled. Sister Mary Clarence walks to her and points to the note] Is this somethin' you wanna share with the rest of the class?
M Maria
No, I'm just kickin' it with my girl.
Well. I'll tell you what. You gonna kick it with me, or I'm gonna kick you out! What you think of THAT? Put 'em away. [Margaret is looking in her compact and putting blush on her face] And you. This is not Elizabeth Arden, Miss Thing. You wanna beat that mug of yours, you do it before you come to my class. You understand me? Put it away. [Sketch has his head down on his desk] And you. Sketch. I like you a lot. But I don't want you catchin' z's in my class no more.
I be tired. I got a job l...
Baby, save it for Ǫprąh. This is a brand-new day, ladies and gentlemen. A BRAND-new day. We're gonna start with respect. You're gonna respect me and I'm gonna respect you.
FI Father Ignatius
[Repeatedly]
Oh... Remember. Nothing ever is bad as it seems at first. Fight the good fight.
FI Father Ignatius
Sursum corda.
Wait a minute, what was that?
FI Father Ignatius
It's Latin. It means "lift up your heart".
Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you said "insert some quarters." I don't know if I'm cut out for this.
FI Father Ignatius
You're jokin' me. The children are waiting.
Thanks. Yeah. Ain't they?
S Students
[Repeatedly chanting]
Cold beans, hey and collard greens...
FS Female student 1
[To male student]
Hey, cold beans... Oh. No. See. That's why your mama deejays for the ice-cream truck. [Male student points at her with her supporters pointing back and excitedly burst out exclaiming in triumphant camaraderie]
...
FS Female student 2
Your mama is so fat. She sat on a rainbow and Skittles popped out. That's why your mother's so fat. She's on both sides of the rainbow.
FI Father Ignatius
Keep the faith. Sister. Just keep the faith. Remember. Our Lord said. "O be ye strong of will."
SM Sister Mary Patrick
And ye better be tough as nails too.
Yeah. [To class] Good morning. I'd like to introduce myself. Would you all put your seats back in order. Please?
S Student
Watch my shoes. Watch my new shoes!
I have this funny problem with my ears. I don't like a lot of noise. So maybe you could do it quietly? Thank you so much. I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Sister Mary Clarence. And I am...
Frankie [Interrupting her]
Yo mama?
No. Sir. Let's talk about your mama... who's so dumb she got hit by a parked car. Thank you. Let's try attendance.
T Tyler
I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Tyler Chase... and on behalf of the whole music class as we are...
W Wesley
Tyler. Tyler. You got a little something on your nose. [Gestures on nose]
Yeah. Tyler. A big. Big brown thing right around here. "Hello. I'm Tyler Chase." [Gestures on nose]
Thank you. Mr. Chase. Richard Pincham.
F Frank
Wake up. Fool! [Throws writing utensil at him with head down on desk]
R Richard
[Wakes up]
Paper or plastic?
I beg your pardon. Are you Richard?
[Picking up paper off floor of graffiti sketches]
Did you do these?
R Richard
Yeah. S-S-Sorry. Sorry.
R Richard
That's why they call me Sketch. I do sketches. Sorry.
Try to stay awake in my class. Though. All right. All right. Wesley James. Wesley Glen James.
W Wesley
Respectfully. My sister... James is the slave name forced upon my ancestors. While Wesley. That's some name my assimilationist parents came up with. But today. In honour of all my brothers and sisters who died in the struggle, I wish to be called by my true name; Ahmal M'jomo Jamaael, which means; "He who is spirited."
F Frank
Yeah. A simple "present" would've done it. Bro.
F Frank
Fran-kay. Hey, ho, hey, ho, check it out. Check it out. Hello there, miss, and let me kick an introduction, flute, violin, bass guitar and then percussion.
W Wesley
Man. That's white. Man.
F Frank
..it seems you are a sister...
W Wesley
Man. Just stop. Can't you come up with your own thing? Or must you continually come behind my people and steal our expressions? First jazz. Then rock and roll. Now rap. What you gonna try to take next. Man?
F Frank
I'm gonna take your girl if you ain't careful.
W Wesley
Keep talkin' there. Boy.
Excuse me. Let's leave this display of manhood outside. Shall we? Thank you so much.
Yo. Could we hurry this up. Some of us got things to do.
You know what I'm sayin'? Goodness.
Yeah. That's me. And I'm sorry I don't have any cute stories or antidotes to tell you.
W Wesley
[Looking behind at her correcting her]
Anecdote.
Ahmal. Shut up. Mind your business. [Shoves him]
Well. How 'bout we just call you Rita Diva-with-a-'tude?
Hey. Sister. Maybe I can help you out? Are we all here?
Thank you. All right. what have you been doin'?
AS All students
[All looking down guiltily]
Is she jokin'? Chillin'.
All right. Let me give you an easier question.
Where are the music books?
S Students
Up there. [All point to ceiling covered excessively in spitballs]
Maybe I should explain something to you. Sister. See. Um. This is what we call a bird course. Now. The reason we call it a bird course is because we. Uh... [All students make bird wing gestures] fly right through it. See. All you gotta do to pass in this class is show up.
Hmm. So you come to class... you do nothing and you pass?
Oh. No. We don't exactly do nothing. We have a good time. Too. Yo. Frankie.
We don't want no new way. The old way was fine for us. [Turns to class] Right? [Class agrees] So, if you're gonna fail us, you might as well just go ahead, 'cause we ain't doing nothing!
Fine. If that's the way you feel, there's the door. Don't let it hit you in the butts on the way out.
Yo, yo, Sis... I can't afford to fail this class!
You better tell your friend you can't afford to fail this class!
TC Tyler Chase
My parents wouldn't be pleased.
Come on, ya'll, we ain't gotta take this from her! Come on! Sketch, come on, man. [Sketch shakes head no] Fran-kay?
Frankie Yo, Rita, you know I'm usually down for stuff like this. But, I'm gonna take care of business this time.
A little lonely on that limb by yourself, Miss Watson?
[Despondent]
So much for friendship! [Storms out door]
Good Morning, Ladies and Gentleman. Please take your seats, do it quickly and do it quietly. Welcome to the first day of your new scholastic lives. This is no longer a bird course, the bird has flown. If you want to pass this class, you're gon' have to earn it 'cause I have no problems, not one, failing each and every one of you.
Yo, I never thought this was no bird class.
I'm glad for you, very, very glad because this is a new day. Things are going to be a little different around here.
Frankie Oh, yeah?
Frankie Like how?
Like when I talk, Fran-kay, you don't! Is this something you want to share with the rest of the class?
M Maria
No, I'm just kicking it with my girl.
Well, I tell you what, you gon' kick it with me or I'm gonna kick you out. What do you think of that? Put 'em away. And you, this is not Elizabeth Arden, Miss Thing. If you want to beat that mug of yours, you do it at home, before you come to my class, you understand me? Put it away. And you, Sketch, I like you a lot, but I don't you to be catching Z's in my class no more.
I be tired, I got a job-...
Baby, save it for Oprah. This is a brand new day, ladies and gentlemen, a brand new day. We're gonna start with respect. You're gonna respect me and I'm gonna respect you. And the first thing you're gonna do, gentlemen, is take off those hats. This is a brand... new... day. I guess that means you're gonna start combing your hair before you come to class. And I know you're laughing over there 'cause you think this is funny, Miss Thing. There is no sun in this room, you will not get a tan, take off those sunglasses, that goes for you, too. If they're not prescription, I don't wanna see 'em. I want to see you, I want to be able to look into your eyes and I want you to be able to look into mine. Yes, Miss Watson?
We don't want no new way, the old way was fine with us. Right? So, if you gon' fail us, you might as well go ahead 'causee... I ain't doin' nothin'.
Fine, that's how you feel? There's the door. Don't let it hit you in the butts on the way out.
Yo, yo, Sis, I can't afford to fail this class.
You better tell your friends you can't afford to fail this class.
TC Tyler Chase
My parents wouldn't be pleased.
Come on, ya'll, we ain't gotta take this from her! Come on! Sketch, come on, man.
Frankie Yo, Rita, you know I'm usually down for stuff like this, but... I'm gonna take care of business this time.
A little lonely out on that limb by yourself, Miss Watson?
All right, let's get down to business. If you wanna be somebody, if you wanna go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention 'cause there's a real world out there and they don't care how hip you think you are or who you kick it with. It don't matter. You ain't got an education, you ain't got nothing.